It began at the National Art Center in Nogizaka,Matazo Kayama Exhibition (until 3/2/2009).
Personally, when I think of Japanese paintings, the Edo period paintings such as Kano school and Rimpa school come to mind, and last year's Dairinpa exhibition at the National Museum of Art was very good, and the Jakuchu exhibition I saw in Kyoto the year before last was very powerful, but when I think of "modern" Japanese paintings, I have an impression of authoritarianism, I had an impression that "modern" Japanese paintings were authoritarian, and I had a prejudice that they were created and appreciated only by a limited number of people who graduated from art universities.
Among the main exhibits, I was first overwhelmed by the beauty of the colors in the Snow, Moon, and Flowers exhibit at the entrance, and then by the interesting graphical composition of the entire screen and the precise technical details in the Spring, Autumn, and Waves exhibit, which were both stunning.
＜Snow, Moon, Flowers＞
<Spring, Autumn, Waves
Also, the darkness of the night created by the yellow bonfire motif of the night cherry blossoms was very soft and impressive.
<Cherry blossoms at night
My personal favorite was a series of animal paintings I did when I was around 30 years old.
It was explained that the work was influenced by Rousseau and Bruegel, but including the prints on display at the end of the exhibition, I felt that the work was similar to my favorite Paul Clay, and I liked it beyond the category of Japanese painting.
＜The Moon and the Zebra＞
In particular, the moon, zebras, and rhinoceros painted against the desert evoked a strong nostalgia for travel and made my heart flutter a little." The "Giraffe at the Zoo" is another interesting painting that captures the characteristics of the giraffe's body movements very well and reconstructs them graphically.
It is a seemingly modest retrospective without a subtitle, but the exhibition was well organized according to themes, not in chronological order, and it included not only large folding screen paintings but also computer graphics and jewelry. I recommend that you go to this exhibition and enjoy it, without being put off by the fact that it is a Japanese painting exhibition. The exhibition period is not too long, so be sure to come early.
